A DeVilish Affair

Cruella Feinberg

She kept mouthing the foreign name to herself while she stared at her reflection in the mirror. A foreign name to go with a foreign appearance. Cruella had insisted she could sort herself out, wedding day or not, but her dear fiancé had of course protested. She'd had women tugging and twisting her hair, applying every cream and product in this realm to her face since what felt like early morning. She'd managed to preserve her ruby red lips, and beautiful brows but she hardly recognised the rest of her face. She looked almost...soft. Cruella scoffed. She picked up the glass on the table beside her and took a step back, to get a last look at herself before the car arrived for the Church. A cackle escaped her lips as she took in her reflection, and she silenced herself with a long sip of gin. She looked positively bridal. It was sickening. Her fiancé had insisted on a white dress, as much as Cruella had mocked the idea. She was hardly a naive virgin, after all. At least she still had her furs, or a fur anyway. A single black mantle around her shoulders.

She felt ghastly.

'Excuse me, Miss De Vil?'

Cruella turned, dragging her eyes from the mirror to see one of the women who'd been assigned as a bridesmaid standing by the door.

'Yes?'

'The car's here, ma'am. We're ready for you.'

With a last gulp of alcohol for courage, Cruella picked up her veil from where it was hanging on the corner of the mirror and she forced a smile.

'Of course, darling.'


Ursula sighed, tapping her fingernails on the kitchen counter impatiently as she waited for the kettle to boil. When it finally began to whistle, she flicked it off and added the water to the coffee in the dirty mug she hadn't bothered to clean. It was then that she realised she had no milk.

Black coffee was better than no coffee, she supposed, though she cursed herself anyway.

The Sea Witch picked up the disappointing drink and carried it to the couch, placing it on her low table trying not to look at the invitation that sat next to her mug.

No wonder she was so distracted.

The invitation had been a shock. She had never expected Cruella to pack up and leave her in this world quite as quickly as she had done. But then, to receive an invitation only weeks later inviting her to Cruella's upcoming nuptials had felt like sea-salt in the wound, to say the least. Ursula didn't even think she'd bothered to read the whole card. She picked it up and scanned it quickly.

'So she'll be Cruella Feinberg?' She sneered to herself. 'Sounds awful. No doubt she's being compensated a lot for that.' Her heart skipped slightly as she continued reading, looking at the date and time. She flicked her eyes to the cheap watch on her wrist. 'An hour. She'll be Cruella Feinberg in an hour. Well, at least one of us is going to get a happy ending in this World.'

Ursula went to put the invite back on the table when she suddenly got a whiff of perfume mixed with cigarettes and liquor. It should have been sickening, but instead she felt her heart wrenched. Cruella's scent. She was taken back to memories of entwined limbs on the bed, of passionate kisses and close embraces, of Cruella's gravelled voice confessing her happy ending to the Sea Witch. The only person she said she'd ever told.

The coffee was left to cool as Ursula grabbed her coat and ran out of her apartment, praying she had enough time.


She made the final adjustments to her dress as she stood outside the Church doors. Behind her, the women allocated as her bridesmaids stood whispering amongst themselves, but Cruella couldn't care less what they were thinking, of the ceremony or of her. For the money she'd get out of this marriage, she'd accept almost everything.

And yet.

She could feel her heart pounding in her chest for reasons that were not simply pre-wedding nerves. Cruella had sent Ursula an invitation out of guilt, as a desperate attempt to keep in touch with the Sea Witch, the only person she had in this realm. She had never received a reply. She could hardly have expected to. Cruella had chosen money over her lover, and she had yet to discover if that was the right choice. But still, she couldn't rid herself of the ridiculous hope that Ursula would be in the Church. Selfishly, even a broken-hearted Ursula would be better than being alone, especially today.

She was lost in thought when the doors finally opened and, with a deep breath and a false smile, she stepped forward.


She was late. Ursula shoved a handful of bills into the cab driver's hand, in her haste not even feeling her usual regret at spending the money she had so little of. She could only think of making it to the Church before she lost her chance. She slipped in through the main front doors, only to be met by a man at the doors that led to the main hall.

'I'm sorry, madam, you can't come in here.'

'I'm here for the De Vil wedding. I have an invite.' She went to pull it out of her bag, but he only moved to stand further in front of the doors.

'You can't come in here. The wedding's already started.'

She raised a hand as if to throw him, forgetting momentarily that she was no longer the Sea Witch, that she was simple, ordinary Ursula. She settled for pushing him out of her way and bursting through the wooden doors.

It had already started. The couple were stood at the front of the Hall in front of the reverend, who was already partially through his ceremony speech.

'Marriage is a gift of God in creation through which husband and wife may know the grace of God…'

'Cru, don't do it.' Ursula yelled, as she ran into the Hall. She stopped still as the reverend stopped speaking, and every head turned to look in her direction. The Church was full, there were perhaps a couple of hundred guests sat on the pews, and she could feel the burn from every single stare. But she was only looking at Cruella, who was lifting her veil to get a better look at the intruder to her big day. She'd gone for a white dress. She couldn't help but wonder who out of the wedding couple had decided on that. 'Please, Cru, don't do this.'

'Dear, you said you had no friends coming,' the man beside her on the steps remarked, but Cruella held up a hand to silence him.

'Be quiet,' she hissed, her heart rate quickening. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the woman stood in the middle of the aisle, worried that just looking away for a second would mean the Sea Witch would disappear.

But she didn't. She remained stood in the aisle, a pleading look on her face as she remained focused on her ex-lover. 'Cru, please don't do this. Don't go through with this wedding. I know you left, that you chose this, but this isn't what you want. You sent me this invite for a reason, and isn't this it? You didn't want this wedding?'

'Ursula…'

'No. Listen.' Around her, she could feel the stares of the wedding guests grow angrier. But she was used to people's anger by now. All her years as a villain had made her immune. All that mattered was the bride before her. 'I love you, Cru. I've loved you for so long. I wanted you from the moment I saw you at Mal's. I'd never known anything like it, or you. And I loved you from the moment I realised I stood any sort of chance with you. And I still love you now. You're the only person I have in this realm. And I'm the only person you have. We're the same, Cru. We know each other.'

Cruella walked slowly down the steps she was on, closer to her fellow villain. 'Darling.'

'I can't offer you everything he can. I can't offer you furs and diamonds like I know you want. I can't offer you a nice house. I can barely afford the apartment I have. We'll never be who we were before we came to this World. But, I will give you everything I have. And I swear I would work every day for as long as our lives last in this lousy place if I could give you what you wanted.'

'Urs, darling.' She was as close to running as she could be in her heels now, desperate to close the gap between her and the Sea Witch, and distance herself from the man left standing alone behind her.

'It's not wealth and power, but it's something. We can still be each other's happy endings, Cru, just like we thought we could before. Be my happy ending.' She stepped forward to meet Cruella, and instantly found her hands enclosed in the other woman's. Ursula glanced down, in sheer disbelief at their contact once more, before looking up at the other woman. She'd kept her red lipstick and her striking eyebrows, but her eyes themselves were less heavy than usual, her black and white hair twisted around and pinned in an elegant knot. She'd never seen her so different. 'My god, Cru, you're beautiful, you know.'

'You don't mean that. I know I look ghastly.' For the first time that day, Cruella felt a real smile cross her lips, and she raised a hand to caress her lover's face. 'But, honestly, what are you wearing? You know this is a wedding, darling?' She didn't wait for a response, however, and leant in to kiss the Sea Witch, hesitating slightly, before finally letting their lips meet. She slipped one hand behind her head, running her manicured fingers through Ursula's hair, the other on her back. She felt Ursula return the embrace and they remained there for a few moments until Cruella pulled away, as if suddenly aware of the hundreds of eyes watching them. She stayed close however, whispering lowly, 'Now, we should maybe leave. I did just leave a man at the altar for you. One of America's richest, as well.'

Feinberg watched in complete disbelief as his ex-fiancée turned around to look at him one last time, a wicked smile on her lips, before she turned back and left the Church Hall as fast as was possible, hand-in-hand with the other woman.